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B-1 Bomber Performs Double Aileron Roll Over MacDill AFB

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Amazing airshow display of the supersonic B-1 Lancer as a high speed afterburning pass ends with a double aileron roll. (www.youtube.com) More...

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jdriskell
Shades of Tex Johnson!
jordanabrown
Alan Brown 7
You don't see something like that often with a bird that size. Great video! Thanks!
mpv1953
Mike Vergara 5
Must've been Bob Hoover on the stick...
sparkie624
sparkie624 2
I think Bob Hoover if he was still able would have loved to have done that and more with that plane..... He may have done it power off :)
Ironhand
Jay Aldrich 4
I can dig it. What's the purpose you might ask, just cause she can.
johncook1
john cook 4
Was the pilot left-handed ?
ualiah
Peter Crew 2
Good stuff,,,!
sparkie624
sparkie624 2
Excellent Video. Thanks for sharing.
robbreid
robbreid 3
Huh - that was actually really kool :)
patpylot
patrick baker 2
this can be done with any and every size aircraft, given precise technique from the pilot. Recall if you will, the roll executed by the prototype boeing 707 and the hubbub coming from that. Safe then safe now. Airbus 380 anyone?
mdlacey
Matt Lacey 2
Lt. Col Holland agreed, fatally.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Fairchild_Air_Force_Base_B-52_crash

Bobqat
I watched Lt Col Holland's display at the Fairchild AFB open house the two years before his 1994 crash. I'm not a pilot, but hearing Air Force folks around me commenting on "Jeez... he's gonna bend it" was unsettling.

<https://www.flickr.com/photos/138175399@N04/24715950292/in/album-72157664251147396/>
FlyEagleOne
FlyEagleOne 0
Not the same thing at all. He was trying to show off with too little altitude and not enough airspeed. It was not an attempted roll.
mdlacey
Matt Lacey 1
I read the mishap report when I worked on B-52s at Boeing Wichita. His goal was to roll the plane, not that day but he intended to do it some day. By all accounts, he was a very skilled pilot with an even bigger ego and even more horrible judgment.

'Course, I guess the real answer is the BUFF doesn't have ailerons and therefore can't do an aileron roll.
srobak
srobak 2
Matt - this isn't directed AT you per se... but I can see where the direction of any discussion about Bud Holland is headed. So - I am copying a post I made to a group some time ago regarding his incident and career... again please remember the context is not directed at you, but as it contains a lot of pertinent information - I don't think it would be best served by pruning it or re-typing it:

"I am really getting tired of people blanketly bashing Bud's entire career at the stick because of this incident. Yeah - he screwed up here, and but good - and it cost people their lives. No doubt about it - assign the blame there 110% and it absolutely could have and should have been avoided. He made some very wrong, stupid and very bad decisions this day. However - gravedancing more than 20 years after the fact serves absolutely no purpose... and is not a proper reflection of SAC & personnel. Folks in this group ought to damn well know better.

As soon as this incident happened the entire brass structure from one end of AF to the other condemned him, his career, made note of "his history of recklessness", saying his wings shoulda been pulled years ago, blah blah blah. Of course the entire rank & file jumped right on board this bandwagon - and here we are more than 20 years later and people are still bringing this up in this manner and continue to take pot shots at a dead man and his entire flying career.

But here is something that most people don't know (or refuse to acknowledge)... the very people in the command structure who condemned his entire career after the crash were the very ones who were endorsing, promoting, encouraging and exploiting it & his flying for years prior. Yes, I said exploiting. Let that simmer for a moment, while I continue below...

Bud pushed limits. He flew the big bitch in a manner which would give even fighter jocks pause. "Wow I didn't know the Buff could do that," was often a response to some of the things he did with it - up to and including climbing from 400AGL to FL120 at 80 degrees. Yes, you read that correctly - EIGHTY. In a B-52. He not only did it once - he did it twice, shattering world records in the process (which still stand) and making the 52 do something that to this day Boeing engineers themselves claim it cannot do - despite the video evidence.

As soon as the brass started becoming aware of Bud's ability to make the the big bird dance, however - they embraced it. Not once did Bud get written up. Not once did he reprimanded. Not once did anyone on his crew object, raise a red flag with command or refuse to fly with him or request reassignment. Not once did he get grounded and not once did he have his wings taken away or was he stripped of his command. Instead - he, his plane and his crew were put at the top of the list across all of the AF for exhibition duty. Many, many times he was sent clear across the country or beyond to conduct flyovers and a handful of exhibition maneuvers for high-ranking military officials, dignitaries, politicians, other VIPs, photo & video shoots, military academy graduations, sporting events, AF open houses & air shows, etc, etc etc - ALL of which had to be reviewed and APPROVED by wing and/or base commanders & flight ops before being conducted. Dozens upon dozens in a 5+ year span - way more than anyone else in a 52 - and at the behest of senior command across the AF. Yes - the very damn people who later lambasted him, his style and his entire career only moments after this fatal crash.

And any way you slice it - that's patent, two-faced bullshit. If one word of how they felt were true - any one of them could have him ripped out of the sky at any moment. Instead - every single one of them is guilty of not only making sure he flew - but also in the manner in which they were all too aware of. We all know damn well that those commanders were in 100% CYA mode at the moment - and nothing else.

Look - military aviation has always pushed boundaries. It is the very nature of what they do. We would not be anywhere near where we are today in airpower prowess if not. Everything from RATOing an antique, prop-driven cargo plane to Combat TOs in a C-17 to cutting loose bombs while under hard thrust in a -90 dive to our voyage through breaking the sound barrier (which even shattered an F-14 like a sheet of tempered glass in front of hundreds of witnesses on the USS John Paul Jones as recently as 1995). Every single one of these situations - and dozens if not hundreds more - resulted in the deaths of crew. It is an inherent risk of pushing limits and everyone in between from Havilland in '52 to Holland in '94 knew it.

No - it by no means excuses Holland's poor decisions & stupidity that day which resulted in the tragic loss of some very fine men. But it also doesn't warrant the complete wrecking of the man and his entire career. It didn't happen to any of the other pilots who got themselves and/or crews killed. Every single one of those pilots were put in the air at those times for the actions they were to be performing by senior command because those commanders believed they were the right pilot for the job.

So that's about enough of the grave-dancing on this guy, alright?

With that - I now get off my soapbox. "
mdlacey
Matt Lacey 2
That's a great addition. The report I read definitely captured that he was enabled by his command structure. I don't know if it was a Boeing or USAF report.
srobak
srobak 0
I assume you are referring to "Darker Shades Of Blue" report? It was an independently authored report - and while it covers the failed leadership issues, it does not cover the aspects of the rest of his career of very impressive flying.

http://sbfpd.org/uploads/3/0/9/6/3096011/darker_shades_of_blue.pdf
mdlacey
Matt Lacey 2
No, it was something much shorter, xeroxed, in very plain typewriter font. I remember it being 8 pages, but that was an afternoon 18 years ago. It definitely included some parts of that, but with more technical details added. It might've been a summary or portion of the AIB report. It was specific to the incident (including the culture, though) and did not try to draw broader lessons as a case study.
srobak
srobak 0
Cool - if you happen to come across it I would love to read it.
sparkie624
sparkie624 2
Airbus... LOL.. anyone brave enough to try that in an Airbus... LMAO!
MikeMohle
Mike Mohle 2
Would the computer even allow it?
sparkie624
sparkie624 3
You can turn the computers off, but very seriously doubt that it would allow such a maneuver... The plane is just too computer control oriented and not pilot oriented... Keep in mind that Airbus philosophy is that the plane should have final authority of the plane, and Boeing's Philosophy is that the Pilot should have final authority....
kiwipop
Geoff Arkley 1
Airbus 380 anyone? Why the *!!* not?
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
When you do, let me know... I want to bring a camera with a LONG lens and stand WAY WAY Back...
gaviao
great video, I would also see the takeoff and landing, and the aircraft's details in photos.
fiero871
M.G. Morrison 1
We don't need stealth when we have supersonic speed and handling like this.
ChiefShirt
Just because you can doesn't mean you should; at $250M each it doesn't seem to be a responsible decision.
srobak
srobak 0
This was neither high speed nor afterburner, but was quite cool to see the bone roll over like that.

And no - the buff cannot complete a roll like this - no matter what altitude.
Foxtrot789
Foxtrot789 -3
I will definitely be confirming these moves in the sim tonight.
bentwing60
bentwing60 4
It ain't quite the same as when you can die if you really screw it up. I suspect the full Bird colonel or higher that had the stick in his hand was an ex fighter pilot, if there is such a thing.
STEELJAW
STEELJAW 1
Not really. You'll be surprised what a B-52 or B-1 can do in the hands of a skilled bomber pilot. I have worked for managers that flew both airplanes and they told me of jaw dropping maneuvers and abilities of these two planes that you can't read about in a book. Rolling a B-1 in afterburner mode is not hard to do,for a skilled pilot. I doubt very seriously that it was a Colonel flying this bird. It's probably a Major or even a LTC.
sparkie624
sparkie624 3
The maneuver is a 1G Maneuver...the B-52 handled properly should handle the maneuver. I would however recommend plenty of altitude.... :)
kiwipop
Geoff Arkley 1
I hear you can never have too much altitude? Stay in the middle of the sky!
srobak
srobak 0
The Buff has spoilerons & therefor is incapable of doing a complete roll - regardless of starting altitude.
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
Good info... From the era of the B-52 I would have not expected it to have spoilerons, but after reading more on this as to why it makes perfect since... Very true, Spoileron's only would make the maneuver impossible. Thanks for correcting me on this. (REF: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoileron)
30west
30west 2
Sadly, we all know the results of the "watch this moment" when a B-52 exceeding its approved flight envelope at low level at an air show a few years ago. May they RIP.

Sometimes it works out OK, but most times it doesn't when you fly outside the envelope.

I suspect that the B1 was flying a well planned and well executed series of maneuvers within its flight envelope, not hot-dogging.
30west
30west -1
Microsoft?
oowmmr
oowmmr -1
Now that's a "BADASS" Bomber!!!
gaviao
the interesting thing about this video is that shows step by step the procedure for a takeoff. well done video, congradulações.

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